Tip of the week # 488
11 July 2016


Open Mail and Calendar in separate windows (Outlook 2007 onwards) *

As you probably know, Outlook can be used for so much more than just email. You might work in an organisation where you have to schedule activities such as appointments, meetings, events, and tasks using your Outlook calendar. If so, do you use the To-Do Bar to see what's going on, when, and with whom? Or do you swap between your inbox and your calendar? Either way, you might like the idea that you can have both open at the same time, in separate windows.

Here's how:

  1. In the Navigation Pane (typically on the left hand side), right-click on Calendar.
  2. Select Open in New Window.
  3. If preferred, switch off the Navigation Pane in the calendar window, by selecting Off from the Navigation Pane drop-down button on the View tab. (If you minimize the To-Do Bar, this will affect both windows so you might not want to do that.)

If you get yourself in the habit of using Outlook's Exit option from the File tab when you close it down (or simply press ALT, F, X) you ensure both your mail and calendar open in separate windows next time you launch Outlook.


* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.